Beer down and wine up – Australia is not drinking as much.

Although, according to recent figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) beer has the lowest consumption in 66 years, it still makes up around 41 percent of the pure alcohol market. Wine now makes up nearly 38 percent, so we are becoming a nation that is starting to prefer wine to beer.

This is a dramatic change in taste for this country, with beer consumption down by 2.3 percent in 2011-12 (compared to 2010-11) and wine increasing by 1.9 percent..

Spirits make up nearly 13 percent and the ready to drink beverages are currently at around seven percent of the pure alcohol market. Cider is now increasing as well and is now at nearly two percent of the market.

The figures also have another really interesting result, as a country our consumption of alcohol has decreased for the second year in a row with a 0.8 percent drop in 2011-12.This means that per capita we are consuming 10.1 litres of pure alcohol per person per year, which works out to be an average of 2.2 standard drinks each per day (for people 15 years and older).

The data for this information comes not from actual consumption but supply figures, so may be a slight over estimation due to waste and use of alcohol for cooking and other purposes.

This article has been written by Rachelle Williams – The Green Food Safety Coach